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American stand-up comedian, film writer, actor, producer, and director Louis C.K. is widely known in Hollywood as one of the most talented stand-up comedians. The American comedian has amassed a whopping net worth of $35 million. Although his career has been tainted by some controversies, he has experienced a massive success overall. Take a look at how the Emmy Nominated comedian has started and how he was able to a name for himself in Hollywood.
Louis C.K. Was Raised By A Single Mother With Three Sisters
Louis C.K. whose real name is Louis Székely was born on September 12, 1967 in Washington, D.C. His mother Mary Louise is a software engineer while his Mexican and Hungarian-Jewish descent father Luis Székely is a resourceful and successful economist. He grew up with his three sisters and was raised in a household where a Catholic faith is practiced. C.K. was only infant when his family decided to move to Mexico where his father eventually graduated from National Autonomous University of Mexico. His first language growing up was Spanish and it was not until he was seven years old when he finally learned English upon their return to the U.S. Since he was only seven years old at the time, he admitted to have forgotten the Spanish language when he grew up.
C.K. was only ten years old when his parents divorced. Initially he would see his father from time to time but after he remarried to his now wife, C.K. and his three sisters were raised by their mother and they moved to Newton, Massachusetts. He attended the Newton North High School where he eventually graduated in 1985. After he graduated, he worked in some a public access TV cable station in Boston as an auto mechanic. Working in the public access TV has given him tools and technical knowledge which led him to make short films and later TV shows.
C.K.’s Biggest Influences And Inspiration
C.K.’s family settled in Boston and upon their move to the suburban Boston, he realized that he wanted to become a comedian and a writer. He cited that his biggest influences were Bill Cosby, George Carlin, and the late Richard Pryor. What really inspired him to work on TV was when his mother only had bad TV shows to watch after a tiresome day at work. At an early age of 17 years old, he was able to direct a comedic short film titled Trash Day. Although he had interest in creating short films, he was way more interested in pursuing a career in stand-up comedy.
He had his first attempt at standup comedy at an open mic night in some comedy bar in 1985. He was given about five minutes at the time however he only had two minutes of material. He was embarrassed at his failure at the time and did not do standup comedy for the next two years as he was discouraged by his performance.
His Stand Up Comedy Breakthrough
As the comedy scene in Boston grew, C.K. gradually achieved success in performing alongside Lenny Clarke and Denis Leary. Soon they were booked for paid gigs and even opened for American stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld. He started performing his comedic acts on televised programs which includes his short film titled Ice Cream in 1993. He failed to get in on the Saturday Night Live however he worked with Robert Smigel later on. His sense of humor is starting to get recognized and was hired as a writer for late-night talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 1994. He then becomes a writer for Late Show with David Letterman the following year.
He bounced from writing jobs to another until he became a writer for The Chris Rock Show from 1997 until 1999. His work on the said show has earned him Primetime Emmy Award which earned him the Best Writing in a Variety or Comedy Series in 1999. He stopped writing for awhile and decided to focus on filmmaking. He wrote and directed the Tomorrow Night, an independent black-and-white film. The film premiered on Sundance and marked his feature film directorial debut and soon after he released several shorter films. At this point, he is starting to make a name for himself and earning recognition in Hollywood. This has helped him get back to stand up comedy as he performed at the Comedy Central Presents the following year.
C.K. finally got a deal with HBO as a he starred in their 30 minute special as part of the stand-up series called One Night Stand in 2005. The following year, he starred in Lucky Louie which is a sitcom he created. The sitcom premiered on HBO and was videotaped live with studio audience. However after one season, the show was cancelled. In 2008, he appeared in three films namely, Diminished Capacity, Role Models and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. He also also appeared in Late Night with Conan O'Brien with a clip titled Everything's Amazing and Nobody is Happy which became a hit the following year and helped propel his standup career.
Louis C.K.’s Entry In The Movies
Since then, C.K. started writing and starring for numerous films and TV shows. He earned numerous deals including C.K.'s series Louie for Fox which ran from 2010 until 2015. The show earned him nominations five times for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. He has since worked for numerous more films over the course of his career. His fame and success eventually led to the creation of An Intimate Socially Distanced Affair where he starred with his longtime friend Dave Chappelle released in August 2020. He then appeared in a docu-series titled The Comedy Store which is about the Los Angeles comedy club of the same name. Today, the comedian is on tour across the United States for shows with international dates scheduled this year.
Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Louis C. K. , The Guardian
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